Quadrant2

ZMM - Confusing people since 1957

I tried reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance during my weeklong vacation to visit family. It started good - there was philosophy, pathos and road trip. I even got inspired to get my own cycle because I am a road trip junkie and a wanderlust. But boy-o-boy did the author lose it or what? What the heck does he mean by 'Quality'? I thought it would just go away after a couple of pages. Little did I know that the main theme was 'Quality'! I would extend an invitation to the author to visit a software firm to understand what quality is. The word itself is very pejorative in the world of fast paced technology. "I am working in quality", is translated to "I am the one who work with the auditors and make Engineers' life more miserable". Thankfully I carried another book - "The monk and the riddle", a venture capitalist account of a start-up business plan. That book was well written and the crux or core of the book was well supported by an interesting context. In ZMM, I liked the context - the roadtrip and the cabin near Yellowstone National Park but the core was amazingly convoluted and went no where. I also despised the author for dismissing one of the finest national parks in the world as some place where he did not find anything to do. Sorry, Mr. Pirsig, Your book aint for me. You neither understand Zen nor motorcycle maintenance.

So Long,
sai

Labels: philosophy, rambling

posted by Sai G @ 10:35 AM     1 comments